WCVB-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on TV Place (off Gould Street near the I-95/MA 128/Highland Avenue interchange) in Needham, Massachusetts, and its transmitter is located on Cedar Street, also in Needham, on a tower shared with several other television and radio stations.
Nearby Manchester, New Hampshire, is considered part of the Boston media market, making WCVB-TV part of a nominal duopoly with WMUR-TV (channel 9), that city's ABC affiliate; however, the two stations maintain separate operations.
WCVB is also one of six Boston television stations that are carried by satellite provider Bell Satellite TV and fiber optic television provider Bell Fibe TV in Canada. Since 2010, midday and weekend late newscasts, along with World News Now, are overlaid with Canadian paid programming on those providers; however, the latter has carried the normal WCVB-TV feed in recent years.
History Prior history of channel 5 in Boston (1957–1972)
The channel 5 allocation in Boston was first occupied by the original WHDH-TV, which signed on the air on November 26, 1957. The station was owned by the Boston Herald-Traveler Corporation, along with WHDH radio (850 AM, now WEEI; and 94.5 FM, now WJMN). It was originally an ABC affiliate, but switched to CBS in 1961.theprovidencechannel.com . theprovidencechannel.com. Retrieved April 30, 2011.
However, almost as soon as it signed on, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began investigating allegations of impropriety in the granting of the television station's construction permit. This touched off a struggle that lasted 15 years. As a result, WHDH-TV never had a license renewal period lasting more than six months at a time (most television licenses at the time lasted for three years). In 1969, a local group, Boston Broadcasters, won a construction permit to build a new station on channel 5 under the callsign of WCVB-TV after promising to air more local programming than any other station in the United States at the time.WCVB's Station Timeline WCVB-TV 5 Boston, New England. Retrieved January 7, 2017. The new channel 5 needed to have a different call sign (due to FCC rules at the time that stated that TV and radio stations in the same market, but with different ownership were required to have different call signs). It was also critical of the combination of the Herald-Traveler and WHDH-AM-FM-TV. Herald-Traveler Corporation fought the decision in court, but lost in 1972 and Boston Broadcasters was awarded a full license. The local group was led by acoustic expert Leo Beranek and communications lawyer Nathan H. David.
WCVB history (1972–present) Beginnings The original WHDH-TV signed off for the last time on March 18, 1972, and was replaced by the new WCVB-TV early the next morning. The Herald-Traveler refused to hand over its facilities to the new channel 5, forcing the station to rent tower space for its transmitter from WBZ-TV (channel 4); during the final months of its operation, WHDH-TV was court-ordered to sign off daily at 1 a.m. so that WCVB-TV could test its equipment. WCVB purchased a former International Harvester sales and service facility in Needham to serve as its studio facility along Route 128, which the station continues to operate from to this day. Although WCVB operates under a different license and celebrates station anniversaries using its 1972 sign-on date, it inherited all of WHDH-TV's personnel, including anchorman Jack Hynes and sportscaster Don Gillis, all transferred to WCVB-TV with the termination of the WHDH-TV license.
However, WCVB did not inherit its predecessor's CBS affiliation. Boston Broadcasters' plans for a large amount of local programming would have resulted in heavy preemptions of network programming. CBS was not pleased with the prospect of being subjected to numerous preemptions of its programs in one of the nation's largest markets. It refused to have anything to do with WCVB, and moved its programming back to WNAC-TV, which had been Boston's original CBS affiliate from 1948 to 1960. NBC was entrenched with WBZ-TV, and in any event was even less tolerant of preemptions than CBS. More or less by default, WCVB affiliated with ABC.
Local programming Making good on its promise, WCVB aired more local programming than any other television station in the nation throughout the 1970s and 1980s. One of its local programs, Good Day!, which first premiered in 1973 as Good Morning!, broke ground by taking its entire production on the road and broadcasting from locations outside of the Boston area and around the world. Good Day!, along with The Morning Exchange on Cleveland's WEWS-TV, served as a prototype for the format of ABC's Good Morning America. Good Day! lasted until 1991.
During the 1970s, WCVB-TV was the first television station in southern New England to run a 24-hour program schedule. The station ran a programming block from 1 to 5 a.m., branded as 5 All Night, which featured a library of older black-and-white movies and a few recent syndicated programs. During station breaks, announcer George Fennel (who never made an on-camera appearance during the block) would make live announcements and read fan mail from the viewing audience, as various 5 All Night logo backdrops were displayed on-screen. His actual first on-air portrait was displayed as part of a donation pledge drive for the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon. The portrait had been covered from view and as the tally had reached a certain amount, a piece of the portrait would be revealed to the viewers until it was completely uncovered, revealing what Fennel looked like.
Another staple of 5 All Night was Simon's Sanctorum, a program similar to Elvira's Movie Macabre that showcased old black-and-white horror movies; it was hosted by a character named Simon (portrayed by Gary Newton), who often referred to his viewing audience as to being "moths lured to a flame" and "Dearly Devoted". Simon's costume consisted of an old top hat, and fluorescent green facial makeup with black circles painted around each eye and gloves that had the fingers cut out of them. To add to an extra eerie effect, a fluorescent black light was used to enhance the makeup effect on Simon's face and eyes. His eyes actually glowed by the use of fluorescent paint on a pair of special contact lenses.
Ownership changes Boston Broadcasters sold WCVB to Metromedia in 1982 for $220 million, the costliest sale ever made for a local station at the time."Metromedia – WCVB-TV Boston – $220 million." Broadcasting, July 27, 1981, pp. 27–28. In 1986, Metromedia sold its television stations to the News Corporation (then-owners of the 20th Century Fox film studio), which later used Metromedia's group of independent stations to launch the Fox network on October 9."Another spin for TV's revolving door." Broadcasting, May 6, 1985, pp. 39–40. "Life among the high rollers." Broadcasting, May 13, 1985, pp. 36–39. Channel 5 was included in the original deal, but was concurrently spun off to the Hearst Corporation, which had purchased fellow ABC affiliate KMBC-TV in Kansas City, Missouri, from Metromedia in 1982."Hearst to buy Kansas City VHF for $79 million." Broadcasting, September 14, 1981, pg. 81. That station was sold to allow Metromedia to acquire WCVB (to comply with FCC rules in effect at the time that limited the number of VHF stations owned by a single company to only five), and it is believed that Metromedia gave Hearst a right of first refusal offer if WCVB ever went up for sale again."Hearst's rise in the ownership ranks." Broadcasting, May 13, 1985, pg. 38. Fox would get its own station in Boston in 1987, when it bought WXNE-TV (channel 25) from the Christian Broadcasting Network and renamed it WFXT"One less TV for CBN, number seven for Fox." Broadcasting, August 25, 1986, pg. 45. (Fox subsequently sold WFXT to the Boston Celtics in 1990, repurchased the station in 1995, and then traded WFXT to Cox Media Group in 2014).
Logo In 1971, graphic design firm Wyman & Canaan (now Bill Canaan & Company) developed a new stylized "5" logo (which features an arrow curving upward, rendered in negative space, within the "5"). Having debuted when WCVB first began operations in 1972, this logo surpassed WBZ's Group W font logo (which that station used from 1963 to 1996), as the longest-used numeric logo in New England television history in 2005.
Programming Local shows WCVB currently produces the following programs: Chronicle is a nightly local newsmagazine series that started in 1982— it is aired daily on the main channel with additional showings via the 5.2 subchannel on weekdays only. It focuses on topics of special interest throughout New England, though at times the program focuses on subjects outside the region such as Ireland. The Main Streets and Back Roads, one of the program's longest-running series, looks at life in New England, primarily in the rural areas. A New Hampshire version of the program is produced by WCVB's sister station WMUR-TV; two other sister stations, WYFF in Greenville, South Carolina, and WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh, produce news specials based on the flagship program's format. The WCVB edition became the first local television program in New England to broadcast in high definition on March 3, 1999 (though only select editions were produced and broadcast in HD until October 25, 2006). CityLine (no relation to the Canadian talk show), which airs Sundays at noon, looks at urban issues and interests within the Boston area. Its longtime host is Karen Holmes Ward. On the Record (also referred to as OTR), which airs Sundays at 11 am, focuses on local political issues and is hosted by Ed Harding and Janet Wu.
While the station is no longer as involved in locally produced programming as it once was, it has had some influential programs: Candlepin Bowling, which ran Saturdays at noon for nearly four decades, and was hosted for nearly all of that time by legendary WCVB sports anchor Don Gillis. Good Day!, mid-morning talk show, an inspiration for Good Morning America. Miller's Court, a dramatized mock-trial program with a live audience. Hosted by Harvard Law Professor Arthur R. Miller. Park Street Under, a sitcom set in a fictional Boston bar, regarded as an influence for Cheers. The Baxters, a sitcom featuring an American family, with a discussion component. The WCVB-produced series, which ran from 1977 to 1979, employed local actors; Norman Lear became involved in 1979, following which the program aired nationally in first-run syndication for an additional two seasons. Lear departed before the program's second season in syndication, with WCVB resuming production responsibilities for the show; all of the characters were recast with Canadian actors. The Great Entertainment, an anthology series presenting classic movies with commentary by host Frank Avruch. Night Shift, a series that aired after midnight on Fridays in the late 1980s, and featured college student films from around New England. Christine Caswell co-hosted two seasons of Night Shift and would later anchor and report at WHDH, WFXT, NECN and Catholic TV. Future executive producer of A&E's Beyond Scared Straight, Paul Coyne, appeared three times showcasing his student works from Fitchburg State College. NightTalk with Jane Whitney, a late-night talk show using an issues-based daytime talk show format (a la Donahue and Oprah) hosted by Jane Whitney. After airing locally in Boston and in 11 other select markets from spring 1992 through summer 1993, it ran in national syndication as The Jane Whitney Show during the 1993–94 season, mainly in daytime slots (WCVB, which continued to produce the show, kept it in its 12:35 a.m. time slot).